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DYOR 🔬

Beeple bought a Punk.

The artist — also known as Michael Joseph Winkelmann to his grandmother — has bought plenty of crypto art and NFTs over the years, but this marks his first foray into the world of profile picture projects (PFPs).

Given Beeple’s the artist behind the most expensive NFT ever sold, it’s a pretty momentous move, and yet another endorsement of CryptoPunks as the OG of OG PFP projects.

It also wasn’t a decision he made lightly. For weeks Beeple’s been soliciting advice from Twitter users and his peers about which CryptoPunk traits and categories to consider. Plus, there’s the price point.

Beeple paid 113.7 ETH (~$210,000) for CryptoPunk #4593, a three-trait Punk with “clown Eyes,” a “clown nose,” and a “mohawk.” That’s not record-breaking for a Punk by any measure — a few weeks ago we bought a $1 million Punk 💅 — but it’s well above the floor price for a Punk of that caliber.

That suggests two things. 1.) Beeple really wanted a clown punk, and 2.) He’s planning to hang onto it for the long run. He confirmed as much in his tweet about it, saying, “[I] wanted to get something with very recognizable features that to me embodied the spirit of punks and that I could build a story around through the Everydays.”

He also had plenty of praise for CryptoPunks and its creators, “[T]he fact that this ridiculously innovative artwork was GIVEN AWAY years ago and at the time almost nobody cared, but that this idea then eventually spawned an entire ASSET CLASS, to me is just beyond comprehension.

I have watched in awe as this project changed the way we think about identity and ownership. i believe this is a historic work from both a technological and artistic perspective and it's influence on NFTs and this space is already undeniable.”

Metaversal Investment Analyst Matt Miller — AKA balon.eth — says we’re seeing more of these sorts of purchases of late. “There are serious collectors out there who, if they find a Punk that resonates with them, they’re willing to pay more for it. We saw a lot of that during the bull run — people buying ‘forever punks.’”

Miller says the move only reinforces his longterm belief in the project, because as more people buy Punks with the intention of holding onto them, overall supply is going to contact which demand continues to grow. “I think people will continue to appreciate the project’s unique history,” he says.

“The more you spend time with the collection the more you appreciate it,” Miller says. “Beeple did that very publicly — asking people what their favorite attributes are — and he was very thoughtful in how he went about it. You could tell this was a long time coming.”

In the words of Beeple himself, “TLDR; LFGGGGGGGGG, fun times ahead!! <3”

To the moon 🌙

• Animoca Brands game developer subsidiary, nWay, is launching a fighting game called Wreck League that’ll include characters from Yuga Labs’ universe, including Bored Ape Yacht Club.

• Sticking with gaming, retail giant Amazon is dishing out free NFTs for a new title called Mojo Melee to Prime Gaming users for the next six months:

• The team behind Ordinals is further formalizing the space by moving to a non-profit model and rebranding as the Open Ordinals Institute. It’s also launched a new website — ordinals.org —for community updates and other Ordinals-related news.

• Meanwhile, hardware wallet Ledger now supports Ordinals.

• Omega RUNNER’s free mint of its character collection raced passed the finish line in under four minutes last week, and the art reveal got the chequered flag yesterday:

• Coinbase’s Ethereum scaling solution Base (an L2 network on top of Ethereum), which it announced back in February, is launching next week on August 9.

• Yuga Labs is buying Roar Studios, “a company at the convergence of gaming, social media, and the metaverse with deep technology and AI roots,” to help it build out its forthcoming Otherside game/metaverse.

• NFT platform Nifty’s is shutting down. The group developed NFTs for IP like Looney Tunes and The Matrix. Wallet holders can follow this link to export their private keys and can read more below:

• Binance has made its Bixel tool available to everyone. Previously in beta in the EU, the tool lets users harness AI to create and mint NFTs on the BNB Smart Chain. Users can generate 10 images a day, and minting costs 0.008 BNB (~$2) per NFT.

Connect for more 🔌

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Until next time, see you in the metaverse!